The remote control is nothing more than a means to tell your entertainment system what to do. The term remote just means you don't control your home theater equipment manually (by getting up and pushing buttons).
You can find hundreds upon hundreds of remotes out there. Generically, they fall into the following categories, which are presented in increasing order of functionality and desirability:
- Standard/dedicated remotes: These are the device-specific remotes that come with your system. If you stopped here, you might have ten or so remotes on your coffee table!
- Brand-based remotes that come with a component: Brand-based remotes work with all sorts of devices from the same manufacturer. For instance, the RCA remote you get with an RCA DSS receiver usually has buttons for your RCA TV and your RCA VCR. The remote has buttons for each of the devices it supports.
- Third-party universal remote controls: Many leading electronics brands sell so-called universal remote controls. These remotes supposedly work with any electronics device by way of onboard code databases. These remotes generally come with manuals that walk you through setting up your remote for your specific components.
You get what you pay for with universal remotes. If you get a cheap universal remote, such as the $20 "do everything" universal remotes you see at the mega-sized electronics stores, some capability is always missing. You may want to go for the slightly more expensive learning remotes (which you can read about in the following bullet).
Most A/V receivers and TVs, and many DVD players, come with a universal remote, but many of those remotes don't have a lot of functionality on other brands of equipment - just the basics.
- Learning remotes: Learning remotes can learn codes from your existing remote controls. You simply point your remotes at each other, go through a listing of commands, and the remote codes are transferred from one to the other. These remotes have a higher success rate than universal remotes because you're essentially using the same codes as your present remote - not codes that a database says should work. Some learning remotes have an onboard, preprogrammed database against which they try to match the codes being learned; others are completely learning-based.
The downside of a completely learning-based remote is that, if you lose your original remote, it's almost impossible to train the learning remote.
- Programmable remotes: Programmable remotes allow you to create macros, which are sequential code combinations that do a lot of things at once. So, say you want to watch a movie on a DVD. You could program a macro to turn on your TV, receiver, and DVD player; set the receiver to the appropriate source and output modes; and start the DVD in the tray - all from one button. Now, if it could only pop the popcorn, too. . . .
- Computer-based remotes: Computer-based remotes take advantage of the growing number of computing devices around the home to provide remote control capabilities. This category includes PDAs, Web tablets, portable touch screens, and PCs.
- Proprietary systems: A number of closed-system control devices enable you to integrate control of all your home theater devices on a single control system. Niles Audio and Crestron are known for their control systems.
